Hopi Native North American, Arizona

To the Hopi and Zuni Indians, the word "kachina" has two meanings. Most important are the spirit-beings who live in the underworld and are the intermediaries between people and the gods, bringing fire, rain, and sunshine, or who represent animals, plants, ogres, war leaders and other important figures in legend and mythology. For several months a year these kachinas come to live in the pueblos, from time to time performing dances. During this time they are impersonated by men who take the form of the spirits, wearing the distinctive masks and costumes of each kachina. These personators are also called "kachinas."

Small carved wooden kachina figures are customarily given to children to teach them to recognize the kachinas in their costumes as they impersonate the spirits. They are neither idols nor dolls, but are serious and treasured teaching devices which occupy a prominent place in a home, being attached to rafters or displayed on walls. The Museum's collection includes a figure of the Zuni kachina maiden Hoho Mana, of uncertain function, but a form that derives from a kachina mask found in an Awatovi pictograph dating to prehistoric times, as well as a Zuni warrior kachina. Also in the collection is a Hopi kachina with elaborate tableta, Polik Mana, the butterfly kachina maiden, collected before 1919 in Oraibi Pueblo, Arizona, and purchased from trader Fred Harvey. This kachina has a rainbow mouth and a headdress of clouds, personifying the beauty and fertility of the earth that follows the rain. All the Museum's kachinas are of an early type with less detail than figures made in the 20th century.